Cousins

Sadly, Ava will probably never have a brother or sister to call her own.

Which will fortunately save her from years of unnecessary fighting during her youth.

However, this unfortunately also means she will miss out on the amazing experience of growing up with someone and knowing she has a sibling to help her out when mom and dad grow old

and become crazy and helpless.

And even as I wrote that my stomach sank.

And yet, I really don't see Ian and I trying to have another baby. The clock is ticking fast folks.

And life is complicated enough as it is. That's been our excuse anyway.

Plus selfishly, I really don't want to get fat again and

have a chest that fills sizes of bras not found on any charts.

So, (to get to the point of this post), I am incredibly grateful that Ava has cousins...6 of them to be exact.

And last week we spent some quality time with 2 of them--Ethan and Emma,

who happen to now live in Marshfield, Wisconsin.

Emma and Ava are like sisters. They love each other whole-heartedly and

yet still manage to fight over silly stuff. But when all is said and done, Ava thinks Emma is the coolest.

And Ava has adored Ethan from day one.

We had a fun day exploring the rides at the Mall of America in Minneapolis.

We took our girls and their dolls to the American Girl Bistro for lunch.

We had a blast bowling.

We attempted to take a beautiful walk, but Ava had other plans...

she was overly tired and had a meltdown instead.

It was unseasonably warm in Wisconsin for April, so we spent as much time outside as possible...at the park, or kids were over at the neighbors house jumping on the trampoline.

My sister bought the girls matching dresses and they wore them out to lunch one day and to the movies.

We checked out the local bookstore, visited the mall,

and the kids visited a nearby Dairy Farm to get ice cream.

Ava was on cloud nine all week being so busy with her cousins.

I was happy to just be there with my sister and hug her.

I needed to see where they lived, so I can picture them most clearly on days

when I'm missing them desperately and feeling particularly sad.

And I made sure to spend a lot of quality time with this little Jack Russell Terrier, Hailey.

Prior to meeting our husbands, me and my sister adopted her as a puppy and raised her together for a little while before she went to live with my sister and her husband full-time.  And as Hailey gets up there in age, I cherish every moment I have left with her. She is one incredible doggy...and I'm so grateful my sister has had such a smart, loyal, loving creature by her side during a very dark period in her life.

The day before we had to leave, my sister stayed up until the wee hours of the night/morning, putting together Easter baskets for the kids and hiding eggs all around their backyard. If you know my sister, this would not surprise you at all, because she always goes the extra mile. The kids loved waking up to discover their goodies, (so I hear anyway, as I was too busy still sleeping). However, when I did finally make it upstairs to the kitchen, I was quite touched to find a present also waiting for me.

I think the sign sums things up pretty well.